UNITED NATIONS, Oct 25 (APP):Pakistan has told a U.N. panel that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory, whose final status must be decided by a UN-supervised plebiscite that honours the will of the Kashmiri people.
The people of Jammu and Kashmir must be allowed to exercise their right to self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices, as envisaged in the relevant Security Council resolutions, including resolution 47 (1948), Pakistani delegate Saima Saleem said during an interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Prof. Nicolas Levrat, in the General Assembly’s Third Committee, which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural issues.
In this regard, she welcomed the Special Rapporteur’s recognition of the distinction between minority rights and the right of peoples to self-determination, highlighting the relevance of this distinction to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
Ms. Saleem reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwavering commitment to the protection of minority rights and stressed that the principles of equality, non-discrimination and respect for fundamental rights must be upheld universally, consistently and without selectivity.
Pakistan, she said, remained deeply concerned about the growing discrimination, intolerance, hate speech and violence targeting minorities across the world, including Muslim minorities. She said that the rise of Islamophobia, religious profiling, restrictions on religious freedoms and incitement to hatred demands greater international attention and concerted action.
Source: APP (Associated Press of Pakistan)
